November 25, 2024

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Hotel Shilla President and CEO Lee Boo-jin attends a Samsung Electronics shareholders meeting in Jangchung-dong, central Seoul, March 21. (Yonhap)

Lee Boo-jin, the president and chief executive of Hotel Shilla, will reportedly sell some 440 billion won ($325 million) in Samsung Electronics stock, in an apparent bid to pay off her inheritance tax.

Industry sources revealed Tuesday that Lee, a member of the Samsung Group founding family, is assessing buyer demand for a block deal involving 5,247,140 shares in the tech giant. Should the sale proceed, her shareholding in Samsung Electronics would decrease from 0.89 percent to 0.8 percent.

The share price is expected to fall within the range of 83,700 to 84,500 won apiece, representing a discount of around 0.95 percent compared to Monday's closing price of 84,500 won. That would set the total sales amount at 446.7 billion won.

In a recent regulatory filing, Samsung Electronics disclosed that Lee had entered into a trust agreement with Hana Bank on March 15, aiming to dispose of a 0.09 percent stake in the company by April 22. The filing stated that the purpose was to repay loans.

Proceeds from the block deal are anticipated to cover Lee's portion of the substantial inheritance tax of 12 trillion won imposed on Samsung Group family members following the demise of the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee in 2020. To settle one of the world's largest inheritance tax bills, the family members have opted for a five-year annual installment payment plan that began in April 2021.

The latest divestment by the Hotel Shilla CEO follows a previous shares sell-off in Samsung Electronics valued at about 2.17 trillion won, which she, along with her mother Hong Ra-hee and sister Lee Seo-hyun, conducted in January. Concurrently, Lee Boo-jin is also unloading stakes in other group affiliates, including Samsung C&T, Samsung SDS and Samsung Life Insurance, totaling 558.6 billion won.

By Choi Ji-won (jwc@heraldcorp.com)
The Korea Herald